Heart Of Darkness In Lord Of The Flies

The Depth of Darkness

Everyone has a dark side that becomes prominent when faced with difficult situations. Human beings possess a heart of darkness that is masked by civilized society. No matter who they are, or what they believe in, all humans are born with a dark side that is only unleashed under severe, and dire circumstances. William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, exhibits this fact through the examples of the characters Jack, Simon, and the choir group. Although all three characters display different ways of unleashing these demons, the end result is the same for all. Humans possess a heart of darkness deep within which is unleashed from these characters due to the situation that was brought upon them once being stranded on the island. At the beginning of the novel, all of the boys are

However, there is large difference between the darkness enclosed within Simon’s core compared to that of Jack. Jack becomes a blood-thirsty savage with no regard for other people, whilst Simon began to experience hallucinations and begins showing signs of going insane. When arriving on the island, Simon was considered one of the wisest amongst the boys, being one of the only people who didn’t believe that there was a beast on the island and providing a great deal of help to the group. However, as their time on the island expanded, he began to lose his mind. “‘Maybe there is a beast…. Maybe it’s only us” (Golding 80) . Eventually, the island becomes too much for him, as he begins talking to the pig’s head, and hallucinating it talking back to him. These mental lapses and hallucinations play a large role in his eventual death. He believes that he sees the beast, so he runs to tell the rest of the group, however they believe he is the beast and viciously kill him. Simon’s dark side resulted in his death, as he lost his mind and lost who he was as a